Electronic control units must be cooled in order for them to operate correctly. This is especially true of those electronic control units that are operated in areas subjected to high temperature, such as the engine compartment of a motor vehicle. Due to these special temperature conditions, electronic control units have customarily been mounted at points in the vehicle that are subjected to less heat or on separate heat sinks.
A housing of the type mentioned above is described in European Patent Application No. EP 0 968 885. In this previously known housing, the bottom section is provided with a recess for inserting an electronic control unit, the cooling device having cooling channels that are shaped to be open in the vicinity of three side edges of the recess and are closed by a separate cover. Additional method steps, such as welding on a cover or screwing on a cover to form a seal, are necessary to produce these cooling channels. One disadvantage of this previously known housing is that it provides inadequate cooling efficiency because heat is mainly dissipated only at three side edges of the recess for the electronic control unit.